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Mark and I are honoured to be selected as the recipients of the Yukon Historical Museums Associations’ Innovation, Education and Community Engagement Award for 2017. I accepted the award for us at the Yukon Heritage Awards Ceremony on Monday, February 19, 2018, at the Yukon Archives in Whitehorse. Unfortunately, Mark was travelling and unable to join me at the ceremony. It was a wonderful evening that recognized the work of some exceptional Yukoners dedicated to preserving culture and heritage.

It was fun to write about my writing day for writer, publisher and critic Rob McLellan’s new blog series “My Writing Day”. Have a read here. There’s a special-guest appearance from this guy (aka dog muse).

Thanks to the Access Copyright Foundation Marian Hebb Research Grant, I was able to travel to Nevada, USA, to meet in person with Helen Foster. I interviewed her over a few days. During this time, she shared her personal archive which included a plethora of photographs (which I scanned) from her childhood all the way to her time working in Alaska.

Workshop: July 8, 10 a.m.: Ridiculous Rhymes and Random Rhythms (for Kids)A poetry workshop for children led by Yukon poets Jamella Hagen and Joanna Lilley. Have fun messing about with words and find out that if you look closely, poems can be found all around you.
Facilitator: Jamella Hagen and Joanna Lilley Length: 45 mins Cost: $10 Max group size: 10 (for children 12 and under)

Workshop: July 8, 11 a.m.: Writing the North from Inside Out in Creative Non-Fiction
Those from “outside” visit, write, and publish stories of and from the north. How do we turn our own lived experience and craft into stories from here that make it into the larger market of the “outside?” Spoiler alert: Ellen has more questions than answers, but the born and raised Alaskan/Canadian author of two books will challenge participants to write beyond genre and region.
Facilitator: Ellen Bielawski Length: 45 mins Cost: $10 Max group size: none (ages 14+)

Reading: July 8, 12 p.m. Joanna Lilley & Ellen Bielawski

Presentation: July 8, 12:30 p.m.: Level-Up Through Collaboration
In 2014, writer Lily Gontard and photographer Mark Kelly set out to document the vanishing Alaska Highway lodge community. They travelled over 8,000 kilometres, interviewed over 40 people and took over 5,000 photographs. In this presentation, Mark and Lily share how they collaborated to build on each other’s strengths to create the book Beyond Mile Zero: The Vanishing Alaska Highway Lodge Community (Spring 2017, Lost Moose).
Length: 45 mins Cost: Free Max group size: none

Workshop: July 8, 3 p.m.: How to Get Your Story Started
Description: How to find your way into a story you want to tell. You don’t need to have a story idea to take part in this workshop, just turn up with paper and a pen, or whatever you want to write on.Facilitator: Joanna Lilley Length: 45 mins Cost: $10 Max group size: 10

Panel: July 9. 10 a.m.: “Going Public” and Getting Published
Description: Panellists discuss when you know you’re ready to share your writing with the world, and preparing for a world full of rejection that comes with submitting your writing to magazines and book publishers.
Panellists: Laura Trunkey, Joanna Lilley, Jamella Hagen and Katherine Munro (kjmunro)
Length: 45 mins Cost: Free Max group size: None

Workshop: July 9, 11 a.m.: Haiku & You
A haiku workshop for adults where participants try their hand at writing a haiku, with poet kjmunro’s encouragement & instruction. The poem will then be copied onto a card or bookmark. kjmunro will offer some calligraphy options as well. All materials supplied.
Facilitator: Katherine Munro (kjmunro) Length: 45 mins Cost: $5 Max group size: none (adults)

Workshop: July 9, 3 p.m.: Writing Local History
Description: Author and historian Michael Gates will cover the mechanics of research and where to look for history. He will give tips on evaluating the facts, to sorting the fact from the fiction, assembling the content into a meaningful manuscript, getting the focus of the story right, and guidance for writing a good essay, article or book, finding a publisher, and the editing process.
Facilitator: Michael Gates Length: 45 mins Cost: $25 Max group size: 15

Bios

Ellen Bielawski is a born and raised northerner. Her life’s work—to learn as much as she can about her home, the place outsiders call “the North”—has taken her to work in Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Greenland, Alaska and Yukon. She won writing awards as a teenager but her small-business family insisted she do something practical so she earned her doctorate in Arctic Archaeology. She is the author of Rogue Diamonds (D&M), and In Search of Ancient Alaska (Alaska Northwest Books)

Jamella Hagen’s first collection of poetry, Kerosene, was published in 2011 by Nightwood Editions. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC, and her work has appeared in North American journals and anthologies, including Ice Floe, This Magazine, and The Best Canadian Poetry in English, 2010. She currently lives in Whitehorse and teaches Creative Writing at Yukon College.

Jessica Simon has called the Yukon home for thirty years, and has worked as a journalist and editor, co-ordinator of the Whitehorse’sWomen’s Centre, typesetter, bookbinder, first-aid instructor, and before she exchanged her paddle for a pen, she was a wilderness guide. She is the author of the Markus Fanger adventure crime series.

Joanna Lilley’s poetry collection, If There Were Roads, was published by Turnstone Press in spring 2017. She is the author of the poetry collection, The Fleece Era (Brick Books), nominated for the Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry, and the short story collection The Birthday Books (Hagios Press). She is a co-founder of the Yukon Writers’ Collective Ink. www.joannalilley.com.

kjmunro is originally from Vancouver, BC, but now lives in Whitehorse. She founded ‘solstice haiku’, a monthly haiku discussion group, in 2014, & she has a leaflet with Leaf Press. She is Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada and an Associate Member of the League of Canadian Poets.

Laura Trunkey’s short fiction collection Double Dutch (House of Anansi, 2016) was an American Bookseller’s Association Indies Introduce choice. Previous stories have appeared in journals and magazines across Canada and in the anthology Darwin’s Bastards: Astounding Tales from Tomorrow (D&M). She is also the author of the children’s novel, The Incredibly Ordinary Danny Chandelier (Annick). She lives in Victoria where she is the Artistic Associate of the Victoria Festival of Authors. www.lauratrunkey.com.

Lily Gontard is a writer living in Whitehorse. Her fiction, poetry and non-fiction have appeared in magazines such as Pushing Out the Boat and Geist. She is the author of Beyond Mile Zero: The Vanishing Alaska Highway Lodge Community (Lost Moose / Harbour Publishing) and a member of the Yukon Writers’ Collective Ink. www.gontard.ca and @lilyofthenorth.

Mark Kelly makes his home in Whitehorse. He splits his time between his counselling practice where he uses photography in the therapeutic process and his personal/professional photographic pursuits. Mark is the photographer of Beyond Mile Zero: The Vanishing Alaska Highway Lodge Community (Lost Moose / Harbour Publishing). www.depthoffield.ca.

Michael Gates is the former curator of collections for Parks Canada in Dawson City. He pens the popular weekly History Huntercolumn in the Yukon News and has written hundreds of articles. He has published four books on Yukon history, the most recent From the Klondike to Berlin (Harbour Publishing)

Patti Flather’s play Paradise was published in 2017 (Playwrights Canada Press). Her plays Sixty Below and West Edmonton Mall have been produced nationally and published in anthologies. Her fiction has appeared in many journals. Her screenplay Kiss That Alaska Highway was a winner at Moondance Film Festival and Female Eye Festival. Patti is Artistic Director of Gwaandak Theatre in Whitehorse, a company she co-founded, which develops, produces and tours plays showcasing Indigenous and northern voices.Their latest creation, Map of the Land, Map of the Stars, premiered this May and tours Canada next season.

Many thanks to Angela Drainville, Producer and Artistic Director of the Atlin Arts & Music Festival for including Atlin Lit Up.

Date: 12:30 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. Saturday, July 8, 2017, at Atlin Lit Up literary festival (part of the Atlin Arts and Music Festival)Details: “Level Up With Collabortaion” a presentation with photographer Mark Kelly